


voices of the underground

by pettigrace



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Asexual Barry, Asexual Character, M/M, Social Media, YouTube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 12:03:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7102435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pettigrace/pseuds/pettigrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Barry gathers unexpected internet fame by starting a YouTube account, a door opens that leads him into a whole new world - and maybe most of that world may be the home of another blogger who lives across the river.</p>
            </blockquote>





	voices of the underground

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from A Great Big World's "This Is The New Year".
> 
> The twitter handles mentioned in this story are invented and refer either to Original Characters or some from the DC Comics universe/Arrowverse. If they are used in real life, they are in no means to be associated with those users.

Barry takes a deep breath as he announces Iris to the camera in front of them, saying how shell read out questions people have sent him to answer.

It's really crazy, he'd never thought to actually be one of those people who make Q&A videos. When he uploaded his first video about half a year ago, he'd thought nobody would want to watch it.

He's been inspired by another video where a girl sang a song about how the friend who sent the viewer the link to it actually wants to tell them they're gay. He'd encountered it randomly on Tumblr where someone said what a cool idea that is and then he'd thought about how it would be cool to have that with asexuality, explaining the term and everything. His melody and lyrics turned out to be quite simple, but people still picked it up and soon enough he had multiple thousand likes.

His next video was more of a vlog, really, where he explained other terms more. He tried to inform people that being asexual does not immediately mean you're aromantic, too, saying how _he_ for example is asexual and yet panromantic. He explained how both asexual and aromantic are umbrella terms for a whole spectrum and explained a few more sub-orientations, hoping that people could find something to relate to if they're still unsure. Of course, he only brushed over aromanticism, explaining that he doesn't want to say anything wrong, seeing as he is not on the spectrum himself.

The most important message he has is definitely that asexual people are not broken. He makes sure to say this exact phrase multiple times in a single video.

"Iris is going to help me with this little video. She's gonna read out questions and I'm gonna answer them as good as I can.", Barry says into the camera, giving it a nervous smile. He doesn't want to think about _what_ kind of questions could come up. "So, are you ready?", he asks her.

Iris holds up his phone and grins into the camera, indicating that she is. "I'll start when you tell me to," she answers, starting to scroll through the comments he's gotten.

"Okay, let's go.", Barry tells her.

Iris continues scrolling for a bit before announcing, "We'll start with an easy one, shall we? Someone here wants to know how old you are."

Barry lets out a little laughter in relief. Maybe those questions are not as awkward as he thought they'd be. "I just turned 24."

"Yeah, you know, before he knows it, he'll sit in an old people's home.", Iris tells the camera with a giggle.

"Hey! Unfair! Just because you still have a few months until you're as old as me?"

"See? There you have it, you're old!", Iris laughs. "The next question is: Are you single?"

"Uh, yeah, I am.", Barry says slowly, almost rolling his eyes at how expectable this question is. Talk about your sexuality and all everyone cares about is your love life.

"Well, great," Iris continues, "because this person here thinks you're 'hella cute and good-looking'. Actual quote." She winks at him.

At that Barry feels how his cheeks heat up and looks at the floor quickly. "Okay, next question."

Iris laughs at him but continues scrolling, "Oh, this one is good. Do you have a YouTube crush?"

"Uhh...", Barry makes, thinking about it. There are lots of YouTubers he appreciates, from Clark Kent and Lex Luthor’s videos on bio-engineering over Thea Queen’s product testing to Hal Jordan’s food challenges, he's checked out all of the more famous people and found one or two videos of theirs nice. But he definitely wouldn't say he has a _crush_ on any of them.

"Oh!", Iris laughs, "Don't act like that! There's that one-- what's his name? The singer! That Hispanic one! You almost have a fit whenever he posts a new song!"

"You mean-- Cisco? From ramon_brothers?", Barry asks. "I mean, yeah, he sings freakishly good but-- I do not have a crush on him!"

"I know, dummy. But they don't mean like a real crush. You know, it's like all those girls flailing over Justin Bieber. Just someone famous you like a lot.", Iris tells him. "So that Cisco guy definitely counts."

Barry’s still not convinced, but he agrees with her eventually before she spills more details of his obsession with Cisco’s most recent song. Sure, he’s heard it on loop for a whole day when it came out, but he’s seen people act worse when there’s a new video from their favourite YouTuber. Tumblr is a scary place sometimes.

You can’t exactly blame him for enjoying the ramon_brothers’ videos so much. The older one of the two siblings, Dante, is one of the most talented piano players Barry has ever seen, probably on the same level as Lang Lang. Cisco’s voice is sweet and charming and at the same time it can belt out notes you’d never have thought about. They cover songs in a unique style, mostly just the piano and Cisco’s voice, sometimes Cisco would play the guitar.

What nobody could have prepared him for, though, are Cisco’s original songs. Everything about them is perfect – the lyrics, the melodies and harmonies, the way it implies how well he knows both his voice and instruments and how to let them interact in a way to highlight both their bests.

“Okay, the next question is where you got that Captain America shirt you wore in one of your videos.”, Iris snaps him out of his thoughts.

“Oh, uh—“, Barry wonders which of his shirts he’s worn for his videos – he has about three different Captain America-themed shirts. “I think that’s actually been the one you gave me, so you better answer that one.”

Iris gives him a big smile, happy to hear that not only he likes her present but the people watching his video do, too, before diving into a big explanation about how she found it by random as she walked to work. She tells how she had to fight with a small boy and actually was late for her shift in the end. Barry knows that her depiction of that fight is way exaggerated. He doesn’t think a small boy has “claws like Wolverine”.

They talk about two more questions, one being about how he got the idea to his first video (he promises to include the link to the original video into the description box) and the other one asking if he’s out.

He explains how he doesn’t run around with a shirt announcing he’s ace to strangers, but that the most important people – Iris, his dad and Iris’ dad – know. He explains how nervous he’s been when having sat down Iris and Joe but that they were more accepting than he had thought. Joe didn’t really seem like he really understands it, but he didn’t try talking Barry out of it, which he had been incredibly thankful for.

They end the video with both of them smiling in the camera, Iris rushing to tell the viewers to give a thumbs-up if they liked hearing about Barry’s life so that he has “once again a reminder that he’s a pretty cool dude”.

 

-

 

Barry’s glad his Tumblr account is independent from his YouTube channel. He’d thought about connecting them but then he’d decided against it because that would mean everyone could just dive into the entirety of his obsessions. That would be very weird. And awkward.

He tracks his YouTube channel’s name, though, so that he can see people’s reactions. There’s mostly positive things, much to his relief, a few people wondering if he and Iris really are siblings (so he introduced her as his sister without any explanation – the internet doesn’t need to know his whole life story) and lots more relating to his coming out story.

He’s very happy to see so many people enjoy his videos, saying that they’re glad someone raises awareness on the ‘invisible sexualities’. His videos are actually really doing what he intended them to do.

He stops scrolling, though, when he sees a screenshot of a tweet. Someone wrote, “@cisco_ramon did you see you were mentioned in AceOfBar’s new video?????? Omg!”, at which Barry wants to scratch his eyes out. If Cisco actually were to see this tweet, Barry would die of embarrassment.

He clicks on the notes of the post to check if someone important reblogged it, and sees that the OP added something. It’s another screenshot, this time of Cisco’s account, _and he actually answered_.

 **@cisco_ramon:** @mxyzptlk Didn’t have to tell me, I’d seen already! :D

Barry stares at this for a few minutes.

Cisco Ramon knows that he’s a fan of his videos – Iris said Barry had a _crush_ on him! Cisco Ramon knew his video before someone told him to watch it. Cisco Ramon watches his videos?

Before he knows it, he reaches for his phone, dialling Iris’ number.

“Barry, what’s up? I’m at the office…”, she tells him as soon as she’s picked up.

“Go on Cisco Ramon’s twitter. Just google for it.”

“What? Barry, I can’t just surf around during work—“

“Take those 5 seconds, it’s important.”

He hears Iris type for a moment, “Okay, I’m on his account. What is so imp-- _Oh_.”, she’s quiet for a moment before reading aloud, “ _Absolutely honoured to be mentioned in AceOfBar’s video. He seems like a sweet guy._ ”

“ _What_?”, Barry asks, “He wrote that?”

He feels a twist in his stomach at that. Cisco Ramon said he’s _sweet_! He mentioned him in a tweet!

“Well, it’s on his account, so I guess.”, Iris says. Barry can hear her grinning. “Seems like you’re not the only one with a crush.”

“It’s _not_ a crush!”, Barry reminds her. “You just don’t get mentioned by a semi-famous guy all the time.”

“Uh-huh.”, Iris makes. “I’d suggest for you to make a twitter account – answer him, tell him vice versa or whatever. This could be the sweet beginning of a relationship.”

“Oh, shut up.”, Barry tells her. “I mean, I _have_ been thinking about making an account since I decided to make more videos… Promotional and all that.”

“See! Now you have two reasons!”, Iris cheers. “Better get going and make one before your username’s taken.”

“Yeah, uh… I’ll think about it. You go back to work.”, Barry tells her.

“Don’t forget it’s your turn to cook dinner. Eddie’s coming over, too.”, Iris reminds him. “See you later.”

With that she hangs up, leaving him to stare at his Laptop and decide whether to go for it or not.

At the end of the day the username **@** AceOfBar is taken.

 

-

 

One week into the twitter business and he’s decided to start and end every day on a positive note. Basically, he just posts cute quotes he’s found on the internet, reminders to smile and whatnot. It’s the least he can do after the random first tweet he’s posted (“So. Uh, I’m here. Cool.”) and it’s not like his life on the internet has another purpose than make people feel better about themselves. It’s what he’s looked for when he was younger.

Lots of people have sent him nice welcome messages – he’s actually surprised by how nice everyone seems to be, seeing as all you ever hear about twitter are the shitstorms going on.

A few people ask him personal questions. Some people want to know where exactly he lives (he ignores those but not without feeling guilty – he just doesn’t want strangers to turn up on his doorstep), a few want to know how he can be Iris’ brother when they look so different. He answers one of them shortly that they’re just foster siblings, knowing that his answer will be on Tumblr soon.

There are also people requesting him to sing more on his channel since they like his voice so much. He answers that he’s flattered to hear that but that’s not what his channel was meant to be for.

Of course, once you mention something on the internet, people will never forget it. He should’ve expected that his so-called crush on Cisco will follow him.

Someone called @sansplastique said he could record a song together with Cisco (mentioning him in the tweet and all that), after all ramon_brothers is there for music.

 _Cisco_ answers, saying he’d be on board with that.

After he tweeted that, Barry even receives a private message.

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : Hey, I didn’t welcome you to twitter yet! Hello!

Barry needs about 300 days before he’s able to answer. He could’ve dealt with Cisco mentioning him in a tweet, after all it could just mean he’s answering a fan. But a private message means he’s talking to _him_.

 **DM to @cisco_ramon** : Hi, thank you so much! That means a lot, I like your videos quite much.

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : So I heard. Thanks! Yours are awesome. It’s important to inform people.

 **DM to @cisco_ramon** : I try my best, thank you.

Barry closes the tab then, trying his best not to flip out over how he just had a casual conversation with Cisco Ramon. He’d never have dreamt about it. Of course, he knows YouTubers are people just like anyone, but there’s thousands of people watching the ramon_brothers’ videos. And he just texted with one of them.

He decides to distract himself with some Netflix.

-

 

“Anything new from your loverboy?”, Iris asks when she enters his room later that evening. She sits down on the desk’s chair and faces him with a grin.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”, Barry comments.

“Oh, come on.”, Iris pouts at him. “The reason you made a twitter account for? Mr Nice Voice?”

“If you mean Cisco, who I do _not_ have a crush on, we texted earlier.”, Barry tells her, trying to make it sound like less than it is.

“You did what?”, Iris wants to know, raising an eyebrow.

Barry tells her how they had exchanged a few messages telling each other that they like their videos. He mentions how Cisco has indirectly invited him to sing a song with him. He even tells her how nervous he feels about that, seeing as _Cisco_ gained all of his viewers with his talent, while his first video was basically a funny thing.

“Bar, don’t make yourself smaller than you are, alright? Everyone knows you’re one hell of a singer.”, Iris says. “Maybe you should take that chance.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Just look at it—it could raise attention towards your videos, so more people will hear your message. You could sing. You could spend some time with the cutie you’re so obsessed with.”, Iris tells him.

“This is insane, he probably lives thousands of miles away.”, Barry says, “Travelling so far and then staying with a stranger is way too much effort.”

“There’s always video editing, you could overlap your singing and all that, can’t you?”, Iris remarks, “Just have a skype call and film it or something.”

“That would be freakin’ awkward.”, Barry states.

Just as he’s said that, his phone goes off, the ringtone he’s set up for twitter declaring a new tweet or message. It lies at the end of his bed and before Barry knows it, Iris already rushed up to it, opening the message. He should definitely change his phone’s security code.

“ _The offer stands, by the way. About the singing, I mean._ ”, she reads out. “Aw, he’s cute!”

“Iris.”, Barry says, making his voice sound as serious as he can, “Give me my phone.”

“Wait a sec, first I gotta--“, she says while typing something. When she’s finished, she tosses it into his direction, “Okay, here you go.”

Barry looks down on the screen, reading what she’s written. _I’d be flattered! I don’t know how it would work with distance and all that_.

“Come on, that’s literally what you have said.”, Iris tells him when he gives her an angry look. “I’m just playing the wingman here.”

“You can’t just set me up with someone we both don’t even know.”, Barry protests.

“Why not? It’s like a blind date, only that you two know what you look like.”

The phone goes off again and when Barry looks down on it, Cisco’s name is looking up at him. For a split second he thinks about pretending like it’s just some stranger mentioning him in a tweet, but he knows that Iris won’t let go anyway, so he opens it.

 _Oh, yeah, true. Where are you from? I’m from Keystone City in Kansas_.

“Oh my god,” Barry can’t help but breathe out.

“What? What’s wrong?”, Iris says, alarmed and rushing to his side.

“He’s—He’s from Keystone!”

“He’s _what_? Keystone? As in Eddie’s Keystone?”, she asks. “Wow, what?”

“I—I don’t even know.”, Barry stutters, unable to think straight. A popular YouTuber is living _right across the river_ and he didn’t even have a single idea.

“Hold on, that’d mean you could be there in what? Less than one hour?”, Iris continues, “That’s just—Your dreamboy is right beside you, basically!”

“Oh, stop talking.”, Barry says quickly, “I can’t just show up there and say ‘Hey, let’s make a video!’”

“That’s basically what he wants, isn’t it?”

“That’s still so random.”

“Well, ask him to meet up with you before.”, Iris suggests, “I mean, it would be weird to make a video if you don’t even get along, wouldn’t it? So, get to know each other. I don’t know, go out for a coffee.”

“I will _not_ ask him out on a date.”

Iris rolls her eyes, “I didn’t say _that_!”, she claims, “Just, I don’t know, tell him you don’t live that far away and meeting would definitely be on the table.”

“This is so stupid, alright? Two weeks ago he didn’t even know about my existence!”

“Okay, first of all, he did know about you before your Q&A video. Second, you usually never know about someone’s existence before meeting them for the first time!”, Iris says. “Just tell him you’re from Central and see how _he_ carries on, is that an idea?”

“Hm,” Barry makes, undecided about what to do. It _is_ cool how Cisco lives this close, how they could meet up any time, basically, but at the same time _it’s Cisco Ramon_. How weird would it be to meet up with someone famous?

“You know what?”, Iris asks, “Just sleep it over and decide tomorrow.”

Barry nods, “Good idea.”

“Well then, you think about your dream guy. I’m gonna get a night of sleep for a change.”, Iris tells him.

“If you weren’t at Eddie’s that often, you’d get some more sleep.”, Barry suggests, winking at her.

“Good to know you’re the same, for a moment I thought that news broke you.”

 

-

 

 **DM to @cisco_ramon** : Seriously? That’s so close! I’m from Central City!

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : Wow WHAT.

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : thats so cool omg

 **DM to @cisco_ramon** : Apparently it’s so cool you forgot all about punctuation.

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : That’s…how I write usually. Sorry.

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : Anyway, that’s so cool! We could meet up, like, yesterday.

 **DM to @cisco_ramon** : Why don’t you write like you usually do?

 **DM to @cisco_ramon** : I know, right? My sister’s boyfriend has family in Keystone, this is so random.

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : well writing like this isnt really impressive is it?

 **DM to @cisco_ramon** : So you want to impress me?

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : lets forget I ever said that…

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : anyway would you be up for meeting? Or is this too soon?

 **DM to @cisco_ramon** : Honestly? I have no idea. It would be cool, definitely.

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : we could continue chatting first and then decide :)

 

-

 

 _Chatting_ with Cisco Ramon turns out to be lots of fun. He gets random snippets of Cisco’s life, hears about his thoughts and receives a picture of a dog Cisco found cute one time. In exchange, Barry tells Cisco about how (sarcastically) annoyed he is when Eddie and Iris are all couple-y in front of him, and when something funny happens at work.

Barry learns that Cisco is actually a student of mechanics. The music channel has only been there to live out a passion he’s had since he was a kid. Dante, however, is ambitious to become a paid concert pianist.

Their chatting goes back and forth for a month or so, and at a certain point Barry can’t help but think that Cisco is _flirting_ with him at times. At least, if Winky Faces and a frequent increase of “This made me think of you” along photos of ridiculous things are any indication.

One evening, he decides to do something stupid.

 **DM to @cisco_ramon** : Okay, how do you feel about meeting up?

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : seriously? You still have to ask?

 **DM to @cisco_ramon** : Hey, better safe than sorry. Maybe you got sick of me by now :D

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : never :p

 

-

 

Ten days later, Barry finds himself standing at the main station of Keystone City. He and Cisco had agreed to meet there, seeing as Barry went there by train anyway.

Barry double-checks his clothes once again, overthinking if the stripes on his shirt really have the same colour has his shoes and if the way how he combed his hair is not too pretentious. How exactly _hair_ can be pretentious, he doesn’t know, but it’s definitely something that crossed his mind.

Iris had given him a pep-talk before he went off to catch his train, telling him all will be fine since he got along with Cisco so well already. Eddie sent a text recommending a small café in the city.

A look at his watch tells him he’s about twenty minutes too early – he’s gotten on the early train just in case it had a delay or something.

He takes deep breaths, closing his eyes at times to relax and blow off his nervousness. If he were to throw up, this whole thing would be ruined already. He would _never_ be able to face Cisco, no matter if online or in real-life.

 **DM from @cisco_ramon** : spotted!

Barry looks up when he read the message, trying to see from where Cisco has spotted him. He finds him walk up to him from the side, a big grin on his face.

“Can I hug you hello or would that be weird?”, Cisco half-way shouts at him as he comes closer, arms open.

“I think that’s okay,” Barry chuckles and falls into the embrace.

“Did you get here okay?”, Cisco asks as they part again – Barry misses his body’s warmth immediately, even if it isn’t really cold outside, just standing around and waiting will make you freeze.

“Yeah, I mean, it didn’t take so long.”, Barry answers with a shrug.

“This still is so cool! Who would’ve thought that?”, Cisco cheers. “We can practically visit each other every day.”

“Yeah, of course, that sounds do-able, seeing how I have work and you have classes.”

“When there’s a will, there’s a way.”, Cisco tells him with a grin. “Oh wait,” he adds, taking out his phone, “Selfie time!”

He curls his arm around Barry’s waist, pulling him closer and holding out the phone to snap a picture before Barry can even protest, so his short-cut reaction is to roll with it and smile.

“Okay, so where shall we go?”, Cisco asks, still having his phone in his hands and typing something. “Are you hungry?”

“A coffee would be a start.”, Barry suggests. When his phone goes off, he continues, “Did you seriously post the picture?”

“Hey, you can’t blame me.”, Cisco shrugs and watches Barry take out his phone.

 **@cisco_ramon** : Look who made his way here! @AceOfBar

“Now this really is a witty caption.”, Barry comments with a laughter, taking a look at the picture of the two of them smiling. He’s surprised his face is actually on it, considering how big their height difference is.

“Not everyone of us has _Being An Inspiration 101_ in their resume.”, Cisco answers. “Oh, and coffee sounds great.”

They make their way into the town, talking a lot about everything and nothing. Much to Barry’s surprise, it barely feels awkward. At first, yes, but the longer they are together, the more it feels like they’ve known each other for years.

They’ve realized they share obsessions through text already and their jokes have been on the same wave, too, but actually to each other, picking up what the other has said in seconds instead of minutes or hours, it feels great.

Sometimes their arms brush against each other and Barry basically sees an opportunity written right in front of his eyes. He could take Cisco’s hand, if he wanted. Test if Cisco really has been flirting before.

He would never dare, though. At least not yet.

 

-

 

They chatter a lot during their time at the coffee shop (turns out Cisco enjoys the same one as Eddie does), making jokes and also talking about YouTube business. Cisco says how it’s felt to post his first original song, how glad he’s been when people complimented his lyrics.

Barry enjoys listening to Cisco talk. It’s almost better than hearing him sing, how his voice would get high in excitement at times, the way it gets really low when he makes a _really_ bad joke and knows it.

He learns that Cisco talks a _lot_. Sometimes it seems like he doesn’t even take a moment to catch some breath. Barry’s sure Cisco would be great at rapping, too.

However, despite him talking so much, Cisco’s a great conversation partner. Even without Barry indicating anything, he knows exactly when to take a break so that Barry can say something or when to carry on because the topic is not Barry’s expertise. Sometimes Barry _could_ say something, technically, but he much rather hears Cisco go on about it.

A lot of times their opinions are about the same, let it be about something science related or the latest Star Trek movie. Cisco gets him almost immediately, which is amazing considering it’s their first meeting. He picks up what he’s said more easily than Joe, Iris or Eddie despite those knowing him for longer.

It feels weird when their ways part in the evening. A part of Barry is really happy to have actually met Cisco at last, a part of him is sad that he has to leave already. He’s glad he got to know Cisco in a way he would’ve never even dreamt of. Who’d have known what a down-to-earth and nice guy Cisco Ramon is?

 

-

 

Of course, seeing how well they get along, they see each other more often after that. At first Barry’d drive over to Keystone every once in a while. Sooner or later, Cisco made a trip over the river to visit him. After a few months of this friendship, there’d never be a day going by without them texting, skyping or being at each other’s side in person.

They’d talk about everything and nothing, even more than before because now that Barry’s actually met Cisco, he feels even more connected to him. He can imagine Cisco’s reactions appropriately now and not just like some phantom, he’s learnt what Cisco sounds like when he’s cracking one of his many jokes.

It’s only a matter of time until Cisco brings up the topic of music again.

“How come I’ve never heard you sing? Except for your video, I mean.”, he remarks one day when they’re chilling in his room, watching some random show that’s on. “Like, not even snippets of songs. That’s seriously weird, dude.”

Barry just shrugs, “I don’t sing really often.”

Cisco blinks at him for a moment before he states, “Well, you should.”

“Shall I make another YouTube channel, too, while we’re at it?”, Barry suggests, joking,

Cisco laughs. “Nah, man, I think it would be enough if you finally fulfilled your fans’ wishes and sang with me. Which I’d find cool, too, by the way. Really cool.”

Barry huffs. “Do you think we would even find a song we both like?”

“There are plenty of songs we both like!”

“They’re never duets.”, Barry reminds him.

“That could be arranged.”, Cisco grins, “It’s not too difficult to do that. You know, what? Before you decide against it, we’re just gonna look for a song right now. And then, next week or so, we’ll record it. No talking back.”

And really, before Barry can say anything, Cisco dives over to his desk and opens his laptop. Barry decides at that, that he probably should get a password at last (though, when he thinks about it, that wouldn’t actually be any protection against Cisco).

The next few hours are spent with Cisco reading out song titles or shortly listening to them to create a list of those he approves of. Barry doesn’t mind that much because it’s actually kind of interesting to see Cisco that focussed on his music, and even if he only sees Cisco’s back, he can see him get excited when he finds a song he likes.

He knows better than to say anything when Cisco’s concentrating on anything. He’s been present when Cisco did an assignment once and did that mistake, ending in a very one-sided conversation and an accidental punch in the face.

“So, this is a list I narrowed down to ten songs. I mean, they’re songs _I_ like, and since you have them on your laptop, I guess you like them, too? Anyway, those can be arranged as duets.”, Cisco tells him at last, turning around to him. “You just gotta look over them and say which one you’d like—Or maybe we could just try them out and look what’s best, after all, I don’t know what your voice can do and— I’m rambling.”

Barry sighs and reaches over to collect the piece of paper Cisco is waving around to shut him up at last. Well, that’s actually not the only reason – he’s curious to know what Cisco’s picked -, but if he’d ask Barry would pretend it is.

The list is pretty diverse, Barry sees, even if he actually does know every interpret. He wouldn’t be able to put a melody to every song (even if you’re, like, a super fan of a band, you can’t probably name all of their songs just like that, can you?), but if cisco chose them they must fit to their voices and be able to be sung as a duet. Everything seems to be on that list – from _Bon Jovi_ over _Jason Mraz_ to _Bullet For My Valentine_.

Barry’s overwhelmed by being offered so many songs to sing so he starts discussing them further with Cisco, to get to know how exactly he’s imagined it to work. They even try to sing a bit of almost all of them, until they settle on the _Maroon 5_ song Cisco’s picked.

Cisco’s visibly happy about that – Barry’s not sure if it’s about the song choice or because they’re actually gonna do that, but they settle down to record it two weeks later, when they both have time and Barry can come to visit Cisco again.

 

-

 

 **@cisco_ramon** : Check this out! @AceOfBar joined me to perform Maroon 5’s “Sunday Morning”!

 **@AceOfBar** : Here’s the link to a little cover I did with @cisco_ramon… Hope you guys like it! xx

 **@dailylois** : @cisco_ramon @AceOfBar You guys sound amazing together! Would you mind doing a little interview?

 **@kyltten** : @AceOfBar @cisco_ramon OH MY GOD THIS IS SO GOOD CAN YOU GUYS PLEASE HAVE CHILDREN AND MAKE THEM SING

 **@sinalittlesong** : Have y’all listened to the ramon_brothers’ new video? Good shit, y’all! GOOD SHIT!

 **@kingmerlyn:** @kyltten umm sweety (: that’s a little offensive since Barry’s ASEXUAL! DID YOU FORGET? Jesus Christ.

 **@dantecommedia:** @cisco_ramon think we should let @AceOfBar join us more often :)

 

-

 

After their success in recording a song together – the likes exploded in a way that’s by no means standard -, both viewers and Cisco have practically begged Barry to collaborate with him once more.

Barry’s agreed eventually (singing with Cisco really has been nice, their voices have fit together almost perfectly and they had lots of fun fucking up several takes), but only under one condition: Cisco’d have to appear on his channel, as well.

Of course, Cisco being Cisco, he hasn’t needed long to agree. No matter what you propose to him, Cisco manages to always be on board, as it seems. Barry wishes he had as much joy for everything as Cisco does.

Since neither of them really has an idea for an actual vlog, they decide to play “Would You Press The Button?” in front of the camera. Knowing them, there could be real scientific discussions in development.

The first offer that Cisco gets is “You get all the guns in the world BUT you can’t get ammunition” – which makes him actually consider it for some time.

Barry mentions how it doesn’t say anything about the others. “So what, _you_ don’t have ammunition, but what if someone else has a load of it and then decides to steal the weapons form you? They aren’t glued to your hand, are they?”

“Hey, it doesn’t say anything about alternative ammunition! Like, what if I, for example, use teddy bears as ammo? That’s technically no ammunition.”, Cisco remarks. And yet, he’s uncertain whether he’d press the button or not because according to him, Barry has a point. “But then again, if _I_ have all the weapons, it means that at least for _some time being_ no bad guy has them!”, he then concludes and presses the button.

“Wow, you’re already game for the first option.”, Barry chuckles, “You’re easy, Ramon.”

Cisco huffs, “Let’s see what you get.”

Barry draws the next dilemma which turns out to be “You can teleport at will BUT Your body instantly feels all the effects as if you’d travelled that distance by foot. Including dehydration.”

“Oh, I know what I’d pick!”, Cisco cheers as soon as Barry’s read it out aloud.

“Yeah, me too.”, Barry agrees and clicks “I will not!”.

Cisco stares at him. “Seriously?”

“Uh, yeah?”, Barry makes, “What’s the use of teleporting if you’re exhausted nonetheless?”

“You’d be so much faster!”, Cisco says, “I mean, you wouldn’t be able to make long distances, but you’d be everywhere on time if it’s close.”

“I think I wouldn’t even manage to be on time even if I had super speed.”, Barry argues, knowing his luck.

“Hey, you’ve been early when we first met.”, Cisco says. “But never since then, though. Okay, well, you’re right.”

Cisco’s next dilemma is “You will have infinite money BUT you will never be happy again”. They both quickly agree that that would suck a lot, even though Barry can’t even imagine a sad Cisco Ramon. Cisco closes the case by quoting, “Money can’t buy you happiness”.

Barry’s next dilemma causes them to have a serious laughing fit as soon as they’ve read it, because it reads, “You can fuck anyone you like BUT you won’t be able to talk to them ever again”. Needless to say, the button’s not pressed.

The next one says that Cisco could become a God, but that every single human would die and he could not create new life. He notices however, that you could probably still play God with animals only, but that would probably get boring after a while, so he doesn’t press the button.

The next dilemma, they agreed, is the last because their discussions have already been long enough and they don’t want the video to be half an hour.

It’s about a classic zombie apocalypse (Barry’s been wondering why this hadn’t appeared earlier) and says that he could save humanity but would die. He almost immediately clicks the button because _hey_ , what’s his life against billions of others?

Cisco utters his disapproval at first, which makes Barry smile at him, but has to agree eventually that utilitarianism is a good concept after all.

They end the video saying that even if it’s different from what either of them does usually, they hope that the viewers like it and will give them a thumbs up. Barry decided to add a link to Cisco’s channel later so that people can check him and Dante out.

 

-

 

 **@sinalittlesong** : @AceOfBar your bickering in ya latest video is mad cute, man! I love hearing you talk so much

 **@patsdog** : ok u guys I may be shipping cisco and barry. only lowkey shhh

 **@redtim** : HOW ARE CISCO RAMON AND ACEOFBAR SO CUTE TOGETHER HOLY SHIT IM DYING IM IN LOVE WITH THEIR LOVE

 **@konner** : @cisco_ramon @AceOfBar I lost my boyfriend to the two of you. Thanks so much. Not.

 

-

 

 

When Barry checks his YouTube feed on a Sunday morning, he’s surprised to find that ramon_brothers has uploaded a new video last night. It must’ve been recorded some time during last week, considering that Barry has been at the Ramons’ the whole day yesterday and neither Cisco nor Dante have been to their music room.

He finishes his cereal before opening the video – when either of the brothers does music, you seriously don’t want to make any crunchy noises but rather listen to their art.

Much to his surprise, the video only shows Cisco and his guitar. There’s no trace of Dante – and it’s been recorded in Cisco’s room instead of the soundproof music room they usually film at. The light in the video is dimmed, which makes Barry wonder if he didn’t record it last night after all. Maybe after Barry’s left.

As much as Cisco enjoys talking, he never does much of it when he could let music talk much better. It’s just something for him, Barry has learnt, a way to express himself and be sure everyone _gets_ what he means. Cisco is certain that music has its own universally understandable language.

The Cisco on screen starts strumming a few chords and Barry doesn’t need too long to recognize Elton John’s _Your Song_. It’s a beautiful piece, full of love and emotion, and Cisco, who’s a pro at making his voice tremble while singing _just a little bit_ , nails this song better than anyone else Barry knows could.

And sure, he should’ve expected it when he first recognized the song, but as he watches Cisco sing and play – watches him look past the camera with an expression of longing written on his face – Barry realizes that it’s _for_ someone.

Cisco has a crush on someone.

And for some reason, Barry feels a twist in his stomach at that realization.

 

\--

 

“How come you’re at home this weekend?”, Eddie asks as he settles down at the table.

Barry can’t help but notice how normal it feels to have Eddie join his little family nowadays, to have him be at his home almost every day and to have him join their dinner as if he’s never done anything else. Back when he’s first met him, he hadn’t been particularly fond of him, but he’s learnt to appreciate him and realized that actually, he is a sweet and caring guy. Barry is glad that Iris is dating him, he’s good for her.

“Yeah, soon enough I’d thought you’d move out again eventually,” Joe agrees, chuckling a bit. “It starts with the weekends but then--!”

“Uh, Cisco’s busy with his internship and his brother’s coming down with a cold, so staying there’s not the optimal solution.”, Barry shrugs.

A part of him is glad that Iris is not home yet, because if he were, she’d be able to turn this conversation into a quite awkward one. Eddie may be grinning at him in a way that teases him endlessly (whether this is based on a nonsense that Eddie’s grown himself or that Iris has planted, Barry doesn’t know) but he doesn’t say anything, and Joe lets the topic drop soon enough, as well.

After finishing their meal, the three of them decide to watch a football game Joe’s recorded some time last week (they all know the result already but it’s always fun to shout at the screen – at least for Joe, it is) and move over to the living room.

And even though he feels comfortable at home, lying on the couch with his legs put up on Eddie’s lap – a habit that’s developed in the past months with neither of them being able how it happened – and listening to the others discuss various types of checks, he can’t help but miss Cisco.

The past week has made him realize a lot of things – ever since that video he can’t help but wonder who Cisco may have sung that, too. He also realized that the fact it concerns him so much probably means that Iris has been right all along: he has a crush on Cisco. It’s so bad that he can’t even watch a football game without wondering if Cisco would actively watch it or if he’d fall asleep or play a game on his phone.

He feels the itch to text the other man, but denies it to himself. Cisco’s busy and he doesn’t wanna seem clingy, even if he _is_. Besides, if Eddie noticed, he’d never hear the end of it.

So instead of texting Cisco, his eyes are focussed on the screen and his mind is in a vicious circle concerning the fact that he has a crush on Cisco but Cisco doesn’t like him that way and that it hurts a lot and he wished Cisco would also like him but he doesn’t and Barry is sad and—his mind is working endlessly, eager to hurt him.

He knows that he has to make it through that because his friendship with Cisco is one of the greatest things that have happened to him recently and he’d be screwed if he were to fuck that up. If he did, he would also have to delete his YouTube channel because everyone would ask what happened if he and Cisco stopped mentioning each other and he wouldn’t be able to bear it.

No, he needs to shut up and push those feelings away because it’s pointless.

 

\--

 

Barry’s met Dante a couple of times already. He’s not at home much, though, and if Cisco hadn’t told him that Dante works as a concert pianist on the weekends, he would’ve thought he avoids him.

However, Dante is more than nice. He treats Barry as if he was someone he wants to make business with, always careful to agree with him and to make sure he’s physically well. Barry guesses that’s just how he is because of how focussed he’s been to make good connections his whole life (Cisco has told him that, he’s not that much of a stalker).

Cisco takes a deep breath when they arrive in his room after a pretty awkward conversation with Dante that has lasted half an hour – as it appears, Dante didn’t even know how awkward it’s actually been. “I wish I could say he’s normally not like this, but well, you know him. Guess his girlfriend is only with him because she’s convinced she snatched the deal of her life or something.”

At that Barry laughs, fully able to imagine how Dante would approach a girl. Cisco’s probably right, he would’ve sold himself to her like a salesman on a doorstep.

They settle down – Cisco on his bed and Barry slouching on his desk’s chair – and just, well, hang out. They talk about whatever comes up to their minds (from Cisco talking about college to Barry depicting how he’s helped Iris with her latest story up to the newest YouTube gossip – which Cisco knows more about), feeling as if they do every day and don’t spend a minute apart, to pass the time until they can go and meet up with Cisco’s friends Caitlin and Ronnie.

Barry’s met them before while hanging out with Cisco and they seem pretty cool. He knows that Cisco’s met Caitlin when he’s had an internship at Mercury Labs (which has its base in Central City, so technically Barry could’ve met any of them beforehand already – even Cisco), so they have something to talk about in any case because they’re all clever when it comes to science.

They’d agreed to go to a karaoke bar that evening, despite Caitlin insisting how she cannot sing at all. Cisco’s assured Barry that it isn’t _that_ bad and that everything will be fine. According to him, Caitlin sings way better than her boyfriend, who doesn’t even realize how bad he is.

Barry wouldn’t even have needed his assurance – he’s already been game when he figured that would be an opportunity of seeing Cisco perform in front of a crowd. He loves watching Cisco sing and to see people react to it immediately, to see how Cisco’s eyes will light up like they always do when he’s excited – it was enough for him to be on board.

Of course, he’s also anxious. _He_ is not particularly looking forward to performing in front of a crowd. It’s one thing to film yourself singing but another to have people look at you and see them in return. He’s never even been a fan of _talking_ in front of people. What if he fucks up the text even though it’s written out in front of him? That would definitely be a Barry-Allen-thing. He knows exactly how Caitlin must feel.

Cisco’s promised him, however, that they’ll sing together as often as Barry wants. Or if he really doesn’t want to, that Barry doesn’t have to sing at all but can enjoy all the other singers. That’s enough to make him feel more comfortable so the bigger part of him is looking forward to this evening.

 

When they meet the others in front of the bar later that evening, Barry feels more nervous again. He’s going to sing in front of a real life crowd in a few minutes, so that’s probably a reason to freak out, right?

Much to his delight, Caitlin orders a round of drinks as soon as they get inside, probably feeling the same as him and wanting to lose up. He can’t mind her a joins her for the time being while Cisco and Ronnie immediately hit the stage together.

Barry doesn’t know the song they’re singing, but he can tell that Ronnie does not know how to sing it at all. Or rather, he thinks that he can sing it but he really, really isn’t able to.

Caitlin laughs a lot at him, but not in a humiliating way but with a smile and affection that’s audible even in her chuckle. Barry smiles at her, feeling warmed by how much she loves her boyfriend.

When they’ve finished, the applause isn’t too loud – most of the people haven’t been swooned by Ronnie’s charms. However, some really drunk guys must have been real fans of the performance, judging by how loud they cheer.

Soon enough, Caitlin and he have downed their third drink and Barry doesn’t feel like arguing any more when Cisco repeatedly asks him to sing with him. This time, instead of crossing his arms and refusing, he jumps up almost immediately and struts over to the stage with him.

Cisco tells the DJ what they’re going to sing – Barry can’t hear what he’s saying but he’s sure he knows the song and even if he doesn’t, the lyrics are written down, aren’t they?

When the girl on stage is finished (she wasn’t the best, but not the worst either so she gets some moderate applause), Cisco pulls him up the stairs and leads Barry up towards the mic, as if he fears that he’d run away. Truth be told, a part of him wishes to, but another is motivated to rock the house. Alcohol is a funny thing.

Barry freezes when the song starts. He recognizes it immediately and wants to laugh at the irony of Cisco choosing Alex Clare’s “Too Close”. How on earth would he pick a song that describes exactly what Barry’s feeling about him?

He does his best to sing his parts, however, avoiding looking over at Cisco and trying not to imagine that Cisco’s singing it to that mysterious crush he has rather than Barry.

When they finish, they get some loud applause which makes Barry snap out of his funk. He’s almost forgotten that they’re watched, simply because he’d been so occupied in the meaning of the lyrics.

They get down the stairs and Barry _knows_ that Cisco has noticed his reduced performance, he knows that he’s probably gonna ask what’s been wrong – and he needs to avoid that. There’s no way he could talk himself out of that, so he goes for the best option he has at hand.

“Hey, uh, I’m gonna stay here, I wanna sing another song.”, Barry tells him.

“Alone?”, Cisco asks, a faint hint of surprise in his voice, another part of it pleased.

Barry nods eagerly, stepping into the row waiting until it’s their turn to sing. “Yeah, you can go back to Cait and Ronnie.”

Cisco gives him a wide smile and hurries back to their table.

Barry lets out a deep sigh, thankful that Cisco hasn’t asked him nonetheless (because sometimes even a change of topic can’t make Cisco forget a question). Even if that meant he has to face the crowd on his own, it’s still better than having to lie into Cisco’s face, he decides as he waits for it to be his turn.

He watches the other people sing their songs and before he knows it, it’s his turn to climb on stage. The DJ is quite annoyed when he doesn’t know which song he wants to sing – after all he’s had plenty of time to choose – so he utters the first song that comes to his mind. “Uh, _Don’t You Worry Child_ , please.”

 

-

 

Iris frowns when she opens her laptop and gets a notification announcing a new video on Cisco’s channel. She’s come around to subscribe to it after having met Cisco in person. Of course, she’s been aware what a good singer he is because _hello_ , Barry loved this guy before he even met him.

Going on YouTube, she’s greeted by a video called “Don’t You Worry Child by AceOfBar (+ surprise!)” – Barry’s told her they’d go to a karaoke bar, so it’s no surprise there’d be videos of it. It’s just surprising that it’s one of _Barry_ and that it was uploaded on ramon_brothers.

Despite the title of the video, Cisco is the only one visible at first. He’s somewhere that looks like a club, wrapped in darkness except for some really bad lightning, and there’s a lot of noises around him that must’ve been made more silent afterwards.

“Okay, so, I am a little nervous? God, Caitlin, why am I so nervous?”, Cisco breathes despite wearing a big smile on his face.

“Oh, I don’t know,” a woman says, probably from behind the camera, “maybe because this could end in total embarrassment? That would definitely be a Cisco-thing.”

Cisco’s smile falls. “Oh, thank you.”, he says in all seriousness. Then he continues, “Okay, so first of all: my partner in crime. Caitlin, show yourself.”

The camera gets turned, revealing a woman with long hair (Iris can’t make out the colour in that lighting) who smiles into the camera. “Hello! Follow us on the journey of whatever the hell this will turn out to be.”

“That’s such a motivation, thank you so much, Cait.”, Cisco says, visibly pouting when he appears back on screen.

“Always a pleasure.”, Caitlin chuckles. “How about you tell us all what we’re doing here?”

“Okay, right.”, Cisco says, swallowing. “We’re here at a karaoke bar – actually with Barry but he’s standing in line because it’s his turn next. Which is cool, because I prepared a little something for him.”

“And let me guess, you won’t tell us what it is?”, Caitlin says, turning the camera to herself again, “Yeah, he didn’t even tell me. Just asked me to record whatever happens.”

“Anyway, you see, the text is not only visible for the one singing, but the audience, too – quirky little extra from Keystone! So, all of you guys will be able to read the little message I left him. Okay, wow, he’s on.”

Iris only has a second to wonder how Cisco would know which song Barry would pick because then the camera shifts again, directing the view from Cisco to the stage. It’s obviously brighter, spotlights throwing light onto Barry, who stands in the middle of it, holding onto the mic stand. He looks unsure, shooting a look into the camera’s direction – Iris guesses he’s actually unaware of being filmed and just seeking for support. She just hopes whatever Cisco’s doing is nothing that’ll break Barry’s neck. But then again, she’s gotten to know Cisco, he seems like a nice guy who’d never do something bad on purpose.

Barry’s a really good singer, Iris knows that. If he’s inherited from one of his parents, she isn’t sure, but if he did, her money is on Nora. She knows that the song playing is one of his favourites, so of course he finds his way into it easily, carrying the notes for the exact right amount of time and delivering it with every emotion necessary.

She’s never seen him perform, though, seeing as even though Barry _knows_ he can sing, he doesn’t realize how well. Whenever Iris has caught him sing while he was waiting for his coffee to finish brewing, he’d get embarrassed and stop immediately. The only time she’s seen him on stage must’ve been when he got honoured for one of his projects during High School. None of the other students had been particularly interested, so it was quite an awkward moment for Barry. Plus, he’d fallen up the stairs and almost pulled down the curtains.

Now, however, on the video, her best friend stands in the middle of the stage, singing his heart out. While he’s looked quite anxious in the beginning, he’s now content, confident even. He’s mostly singing with his eyes closed, seeing that he knows the text by heart any way.

If Cisco hadn’t made his cryptic introduction, Iris would have guessed it’s just a video of Barry singing but now she’s waiting for something else to happen, making her watch the screen with more attention. Maybe that’s actually what Cisco had wanted: that people watch carefully and take in Barry’s whole performance.

However, just when that thought has crossed her mind, something happens. As Barry starts singing the second stanza, the screen behind him doesn’t read the actual lyrics but something else.

 _Isn’t this guy great? His name’s Barry and y’all better give him a real applause in the end. Alright?,_ undoubtedly Cisco’s words. Iris can’t help but grin.

Barry had no idea what’s going on with the lyrics since he doesn’t look at them at all, his eyes are either closed or looking to find his friends in the crowd. It’s cute how oblivious he is.

 _In the past months, Barry’s become really important to me. He’s sweet and caring, funny, witty, and most importantly, a giant nerd.,_ the text goes on. _Truth be told, I am a coward so I don’t dare saying this stuff in person but… I’d really like to go out with him. You know, like, a real date._

Iris grin grows wider at that, she suppresses the squeak that comes up her throat. She _knows_ that Barry still has a crush on Cisco, even though he denies it heavily (which is even more of a proof), more so than before even. Cisco feeling the same makes _Iris_ feel incredibly happy and excited. Barry deserves to have things go his way.

_Anyway, since I’m an idiot and he doesn’t read this probably, he’ll only know about this huge embarrassment when he’s back home. I do hope he says yes, though._

And after that, the lyrics go back to normal, just in time for Barry to finish the song and finally shoot a look at the monitor after all since he’s got nothing else to concentrate on anymore.

The crowd is erupting into clapping and cheering, a few people are whistling or shouting Barry’s name – truly fulfilling Cisco’s request from earlier, but Iris knows that the applause is not _just_ for Barry’s singing.

Much to Iris’ regret, the video ends after that. There’s no clue of whether Barry’s read Cisco’s words after all, if he told him he feels the same, if _he’s said yes_ \- not that Iris doubts he would, but still, _she needs to know_.

She opens twitter to check if Barry’s posted anything, but his last tweet has been from before he even left for Keystone on Saturday morning. She has to go for the personal option, she decides and takes out her phone.

 

-

 

Barry’s sitting in the train back to Central City. It’s the early Sunday morning – too early after an evening at a karaoke bar, if you ask him. He regrets leaving early for that reason. Also, he already misses Cisco’s presence, as creepy as that may sound. But he’d decided to leave quite early because he still has a report to finish that’s due tomorrow and Cisco has been procrastinating one of his papers for way too long. There are sacrifices that you have to make for real life, as much as he loved the bubble he’s in whenever he’s around Cisco.

His phone goes off and reveals an incoming text message from Iris, asking how the evening’s been.

 **To Iris:** Lots of fun!! I’m dead tired. Be home in half an hour.

 **From Iris:** Already?

 **To Iris:** Singh’ll kill me if I don’t finish the Mason report on time.

 **From Iris:** Hm, bummer. How’s Cisco? J

 **To Iris:** Fine? Why do you ask? I buried him underneath college stuff before I left.

 **From Iris:** Oh.

 **From Iris:** Man, I gotta show you something when you’re home.

Barry huffs at that and shoves his phone back into his pocket, fully aware that asking what she’s talking about would be pointless. When Iris says she’s going to _show_ you something, she’ll do exactly that and not _talk_ about it.

At least he now has something that makes him look forward to being back at home.

 

-

 

“What,” Barry exclaims, not even able to phrase it as a question. His eyes are wide in shock, surprise and disbelief.

Iris had just shown him a video from last night that has been uploaded onto ramon_brothers. It basically shows him singing at the karaoke bar they’d visited, but there’s also a text appearing behind his back, telling that Cisco supposedly has a crush on him.

There’s no way on earth that that has really happened. Or that he’s _missed_ it. A huge message comes up on scree behind you and you don’t notice? Surely, someone in the audience would’ve gained his attention at that or something.

And even if it did happen, there’s no way Cisco is serious. It’s a joke of his, probably.

Cisco Ramon, genius of both music and science, crushing on Barry ‘Mediocre’ Allen? A thing only those desperate people on Tumblr could imagine. But Iris’ smile at his disbelief makes him think that _maybe_ \--

“He means it, Bar.”, Iris says softly, “And it’s pretty cute. Almost sounds like he wants to _marry_ you.”

“He’s—he’s joking.”, Barry breathes. “Or maybe it wasn’t him.”

“Barry, he literally said so before you started singing.”

Barry’s still not convinced even though deep down he knows that what she’s saying makes sense. But why would Cisco ask him out? That’s just… unbelievable.

“Oh, for God’s sake.”, Iris hisses and reaches over, stealing his phone from where it sits on his bed. Before Barry can protest, she’s already dealt Cisco’s number. Why must his name be that up high in his contact list?

“Iris!”, he growls, “I swear, don’t—“

“Oh, hi Cisco!”, Iris sweetly says into the phone, “This is Iris! … Yeah, listen, I hope your paper can wait. … No, _someone_ wants to talk to you.”

Cisco replies something that Barry obviously can’t hear. Iris is a traitor so she didn’t even put him on speaker.

She hums in agreement before saying, “Okay, here he comes.” She hands Barry the phone and gives him a stern look before getting up and leaving the room.

And while Barry swears at her for bringing him into this position, he can’t help but feel thankful that she doesn’t stay to witness this fiasco.

“Uh, hello, Cisco,” he breathes into the phone, not daring to trust his voice.

“Hi, Barry.”, Cisco answers, as quiet as him. The awkward tension could probably give someone a heart attack. “I guess… you’ve seen the video?”

Barry takes a deep breath. It’s now or never. “Uh, yes. Yes, I have.”

 

\--

 

“Okay, you guys. Me proving that asexuality is not the same as aromanticism has gone into the next round!”, Barry announces into the camera.

He’s been thinking of how to tell the internet that _yes_ , Cisco’s confession has been a success, for the past week or so. Since Cisco had posted that video two weeks ago, both their notifications on twitter have been blowing up. Barry doesn’t even want to imagine what fanfictions this must have produced.

“I took it upon myself to tell the world that some of us ace people – not all, mind you – actually can have romantic feelings, and got myself a boyfriend. The things I do for social justice.”, he adds and turns the camera to Cisco who grimaces at his introduction.

“Remind me why I date you?”, he asks, a cheerful tone in his voice, though.

“It’s certainly not because I’m good in bed.”, Barry deadpans before they both break into laughter.

“You _do_ give awesome cuddles, though.”, Cisco says when they’ve calmed down a bit.

“You didn’t actually _know_ that before.”, Barry replies and shoots a look at the camera. Maybe he needs to cut out a lot of this vlog. And it’s only just started.

“Hey, had to try. Go big or go home.”, Cisco replies. “Although, I did go big and _then_ actually went home. Because you’re oblivious.”

Barry snorts, “That was part of your plan! You were hoping I wouldn’t see!”

“Yeah, because then you’d have stopped singing and that would’ve been unfair to the fans.”

“That sounds awfully cheesy.”

“Only for you.”

Barry blushes at that. If the camera weren’t turned on, he would’ve gone for a kiss. Now, however, he clears his throat and says into the camera, “So, uh, yeah! Cisco and I are dating! And to clear things up—“

“Only since my awesome karaoke stunt. Not before that, y’all!”, Cisco finishes.

“And, no, we are not neighbours, like some of you think.”

“Yeah, we might live close to each other, but we’re no OTP prompt á la A Cinderella Story, as cool as that movie is.”

“Also,” Barry continues, “We haven’t known each other before. I mean, I knew the ramon_brothers, of course.”

“Aw, he’s had a crush on me all along.”, Cisco teases.

“Cisco!”, Barry exclaims- It’s bad enough already that Iris had dropped that bomb over dinner yesterday, the internet doesn’t need to know that. “You better convince me not to dump you after all. This bond is fresh, mind you.”

“How could you? I’m super great and cute.”, Cisco grins and Barry can’t help but think, _yes, you are_. “Besides, you’d break the internet’s heart.”

“Not yours?”

“I’m part of the internet.”

“You can’t believe how glad I am that that’s not true.”, Barry replies in all honesty.

“Wow, now _that_ was cheesy.”, Cisco says with a chuckles and pushes back a wisp of his hair.

Barry thinks that maybe he should not cut that video after all because YouTube could need more of the preciousness that is a rambling Cisco. It’s certainly one of his favourite things.

 

-

 

 **@ciscoismyman:** OH MY GOD!!!!!!! THEY CONFIRMED!!

 **@aceofjade:** O RU  SHSIP HAS  SSAILEQ!

 **@demisexualaliens:** @aceofbar @cisco_ramon super happy to hear about you guys, I hope you have the greatest time together  <3

 **@canisuckyourhal:** @frymetothemoon MY CHILDRNE WHO I HAVE REAISED ALLE BY MY YOWN ARE DATIGN! SANDY! LSITNE!

 **@AceOfBar:** @cisco_ramon Great, we broke the internet.

**Author's Note:**

> The video that inspires Barry to opens his channel can be found [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3ECU6xtp68).  
> An appropiate cover of Maroon 5's "Sunday Morning" is on Kurt Hugo Schneider's [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPZ5WFNYveM).  
> The [Glee version of](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKnDBfdStIY) "Your Song" made me use it.  
> [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_SJUSZaWcA) and [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQA8wMqoDHU) are fanvideos that connect Barry's character arc of the show with "Don't You Worry Child".
> 
> If you liked this story, you can share it [here](http://joanthangroff.tumblr.com/tagged/*fic) on tumblr.


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